London Mayor Boris Johnson will be told to “get building” today by Labour assembly members as the housing crisis continues to leave thousands in substandard accommodation.

Labour assembly group budget spokesperson John Biggs will renew calls for the mayor to start directly building housing through a new London Housing Corporation (LHC).

Mr Johnson must formally say whether or not he will adopt the proposal at today’s budget meeting.

The LHC would tackle the backlog caused by developers deliberately restricting the supply of homes to keep prices high, Labour says.

Mr Biggs is proposing that the LHC would be run by Homes for London — in the same vein as Transport for London — which would draw together work on homes, land and planning to make sure housing is invested in as infrastructure.

“Londoners are facing a housing crisis and Boris is doing virtually nothing to help people who are struggling,” said Mr Biggs.

“The mayor’s own research shows we need 62,000 new homes built each year, but his own target is only 42,000 — and he’s only managing to build 20,000 of that.”

Now is the time for “decisive action” not only in terms of construction but in regulating the private rent sector, claimed Mr Biggs.

He said: “It is time Boris directly intervened in the broken housing market and directly built houses.

“He has the land and the powers to deliver significant levels of housing, it’s time he took the housing crisis seriously and got building.”